Graphs: Prince of Persia

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Ubisoft's would-be blockbuster sells worse than expected.

By IGN Staff

Ubisoft's 3D action-adventure Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time seemed to have everything going in its favor. It was an original update to a recognizable classic game franchise. It had the support of the enthusiast and mainstream press, with pre-release buzz dating back as far as May 2003 -- some six months before the title finally shipped. And it enjoyed widespread critical success, too, with an averaged 9.2 rating from reviewers across the industry.

But the game didn't sell a million units. It, in fact, didn't even come close. Why is that? To be perfectly clear, we're not exactly sure. All of the ingredients seemed to be in place. But Prince may have ultimately fallen to brand awareness. The title, released in early November for PlayStation 2 and later that month for GameCube and Xbox, debuted against an onslaught of mega-names. Though the Prince of Persia franchise is known and respected by a hardcore group of old-school players, mainstream gamers opted to invest in famous sequels like Lord of the Rings, SSX, Mario Kart, Need for Speed and Madden.

Ubisoft may have also unwittingly diluted sales of Prince of Persia by releasing Beyond Good & Evil during the same time frame. Some gamers chose one over the other.

It could also be that Ubisoft's title lacked the right theme to appeal to a broader audience. Many of 2003's biggest sellers were either sports titles from Electronic Arts or violent shooters like Grand Theft Auto.

Prince of Persia sold approximately 218,000 units in December for PlayStation 2, easily the biggest performer. The Xbox version followed with 128,000 units sell-through and GameCube managed 85,000 sales. With November and December figures combined, Prince topped 272,000 units on PS2; 172,000 on Xbox; and 100,000 on Nintendo's console.

(December sales, 2003; source: NPD

Ubisoft responded. It made gamers a deal: buy a copy of Prince of Persia and get the hit action-stealth game Splinter Cell completely free of charge. (Meanwhile, it dropped the price of BG&E, which sold far worse through 2003, to $19.99.) The promotion allegedly spurred sales (though January numbers are not in).

Prince's numbers through 2003 seem to be a reflection of installed bases: PS2 in the lead, Xbox second and GameCube just behind. The fact that more GCN owners did not buy the offering, which featured puzzles and exploration elements similar to the Zelda franchise, remains puzzling.

Call it the "Blade Runner phenomenon." A great game that should go through the roof, but somehow doesn't. We can at least hope that -- like Blade Runner -- Prince of Persia gains cult recognition.